Horseshoe



Patented Oct, 25, 1927.

UNI srATEs- H 1,646,627 PATENT. off-ICE.

onnnn r, Moss AN, or EDDORA, IOWA, Ann F ANK-R. mvnn, OFROCHESTER,

" "YORK.

HORSESHOE.

- Application fil ed March-30, 1927.. Serial n6. 129, 30.

This invention relates to devices usedin the game or sport off horseshoe pitching, a

7 contest in which either actual'horseshoes, or

game members of generallysimilar form, are.

5 pitchedat a stake with the object ofcausing. thef s hoe? to embrace or ring the stake The skillful player accomplishes the desired result. by pitchingthe shoe in such a Way that it strikes the ground flatwise at thev point wherethe stake is located, the rota-. tion of thei shoe in-lthe air being so controlled that at the monient of'stri-kingit is in a posi tion such that the opening between its ends is directed toward the stake. The shoe then comes to rest against the stake, which is thus embraced or ringed- A pitch. which would otherwise secure a ringer may he accidentally spoiled in several ways; the shoe, when starting to embrace the stake, may have turned so far that, it strikes the stake at the inner side of one end, andin this case the shoe may be turned further so that itS POSition is reversed and its momentum causes it. to slide away from the stake. Again, the shoe, after fullyring ing the stake, maystrike the latter so forcibly as to. rebound entirely away" from the stake. Finall'y, if the pitch is a little short, so that the shoe strikes theearth in front .of tl ie stake, the shoe may be arrested, before reachingthe stake by engagement of its ends or its cal'ks with the earth or with the edge ota shoe whichhas previously been pitched,

The objectof the present invention is to produce a pitching shoe which, whilenot departing substantially from" the general form, of a conventional horseshoe, is so n1odifried in certain details of-form that the danger I of spoiled pitches from the causes just clee scribed is substantially reduced. To, this endiit is proposedto use certain projections at the ends of the shoe, asmore fully set forth in' the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanyingdrawings Fig. 1 is a shoe or shoe,?7 althoughnmade: and used exendof thes hoe, a short abrupt inward proj ection The function of v these projections is to reta n the shoe in engagement wit-l the stake, andithus. insure the ringing offthe stake, 7 under certain conditions 7 in" which a shoe of ordinary form is. likely to become disengaged fromlthe stake] The utility ofvthe projections 5 is illus trated in F1g.,3;. WVhile'l the object of the pitcher is toicause the'shoe to turn,- while in the. air, to precisely the extent necessary-to cause its open or heel portionto project; directly toward thestakeat'the moment when the shoe strikes the earth directly in front of the stake, itfrequently. happens that the shoe-turnseither fartheror not so!- far as intended; As shown Fig. 3,,forj example, the shoe, havingbeen'pitched in .a direction from left to right,'has turned too far, so that when it slidesin'to engagement with the stake13 the stake strikes ,the'i'n ner edgeof one end; of the shoe near the ex; tremity of this end. Under these conditions the shoe tends to' slide/in the direction in which it was, pitched, While the: impact against the staketends to turnthe shoe into.

a position the. reversev of, that; intended, whereuponthe shoe,l if ofgordinary form, is likely toJslide beyondfand'fout of engage} vnnentf with the stake;

v The function of the projection 5 is to. cause theshoe, under the conditions just described, to hang; upon the stake and swin'g jaround it as on a'pivot, thus remain-ing'i'n ringing position. This action results from1the-hook.-

like engagement of' the projection andthe i end of the shoe with the stake, as .shown in Weare aware that itfhas previously been, proposed to provide a pitchii lg,' shoe with lOQ.

long inward projections from each end, these" projections being inclined rearwardly and toward each other so as to produce a narrowing spacebetween them, and a narrow passage or entrance between their inward extremities for the admission of the stake. In

sucha form, however, the projections may,

under some conditions, defeat their intended purpose, and a shoe so formed departs so widely from'theconventional form of horseshoe as not to be admissible in regular contests. The minimum width of opemngln the shoe for pitching contests is fixed by a rule, as well as the maximum overall widthof the shoe, and in order to'secure thegreatest advantageseonformable with these limitations the projections 5 should be only so long as is essential to secure the hook-like pivoting relation with the stake. The stake is commonly fixed, by convention, at oneinch diameteryand as will be apparent by Fig. 3,

if the center of gravityof the shoe is located at a given point, as 1 1, it is necessary for the "projection '5 to be only long enough to cause it to embrace an arcof the stake 13 which extends slightly beyond the line" intersecting. the center of'gravityM and the axis of the stake. While the precise length necessary for this purpose is, of course, dependent upon the actual size of the stake and the position of the center of gravity of the shoe,

,it may be said ingeneral that the projection need in no case extend more than one-half an inch from the general line of the inner edge of the shoe. Since a pitching shoe is ordinarily'at least an inch wide, it may also be stated that the projection 5 need not have a length greater than onehalf the width of the-end of the shoe as a maximum. Any greater length than this will be unnecessary, and will .be positively objectionable if itcauses theopening between the ends to be unduly restricted.

-When the shoe, after being pitched, strikes the earth in front of the stake, it is desirable that it slide as freely as possible in the direction of the stake, and that its movement be not arrested by striking against a shoe Which has previously been pitched. On the other hand, when the shoe'has moved fully'into ringing position it is desirable thatit be prevented from rebounding from the stake, s01 amass desirable. positionimay noti'be 'lost." In pitching-shoes'as ordinarily formed, the calks serve only as means'to modify the'balance of the shoe, or to check its sliding movements to a certain extent. In'the present shoe, however, we have so mod fied the form of the calks that they serve to secure the desirableresults just referred to. A

At each end of the shoe is a calk 6. As shown in Fig. 2, this calk hasa relatively abrupt face 7 in the direction of the toeof the shoe,and a much more inclined opposite face 8. The slight inclination in the face 7 as shown in the drawings, is only that which is desirable for-draft in the dies by which the shoe is forged; apart from this draft no inclination is necessary orndesirable jThe toe-call: 9 is also formed with an abrupt face 10 and a more inclined face 11.

.ALXVhen the shoe strikes the earth in the proper position the inclined faces 8 and 11 1 of the calks permit a relatively free sliding tion as the center of gravity ofthe shoe approaches the open or heel extremity. In order that the center of gravity may have this desirable position without impairing the vertical balance 5 of the shoe by using an un" due amount of metal in the 'end -calks, the

shoe is gradually thickened near the end ex-' tremities, as shown in Fig. 2,-thus producing 'elevations 12'at the top of the shoe. .These elevations, to a certain extent, counterbalance the weight of the calks vertically, thus tending to bring the center of gravity into a horizontal plane lying within'the body of the shoe.

Since the space between theprojections 5' is made of the full Width permitted by the rules of the sport, the adjacent parts of the ends of the shoe are more widely spaced than would be the case in the absence of these projectionsi. e., the sides of the shoes are more nearly parallel. From this, and from the use of the projections 12, it results that the weight of the shoe isless concentrated at its longitudinal axis, and the moment of. inertia about the center of gravity is in:

creased. Thisgivesthe shoe a greaterfstm' bihty n flight, permitting the 'user. to control its inclination and greater PI'GCISIOII.

. The invention claimed is? e its rotation A pitching device of the general form of Q a horseshoe, provided, at the inner side of each end, with an abruptinward projection,

said projections extending directly toward each other,determining the width of the heel opening and being each of a length notover half the width of the end immedi ately adjacent the projection.

ORREN r. MOSSMAN. if

FRANK R. I E 

